GULLS CAN’T LET GAMES SLIP – OWERS
TORQUAY manager Gary Owers is under no illusions of the task facing him as the Gulls remain bottom of the table after losing their eighth game of the season.
Macclesfield’s Scott Wilson capitalised on a moment of indecisiveness in the United back line to score his fifth goal of the campaign, leaving Owers searching for his first win as manager since replacing Kevin Nicholson.
“I’ve told the players that if they think that performance was good enough to win the game at home then they are mistaken,” said Owers.
“The first half was very, very average; the second half was slightly better and we forced their goalkeeper into making a couple of saves.
“The onus is on us, we are not in this position for nothing; we can’t just drift and let games slip by.”
Silkmen boss John Askey, meanwhile, was delighted to see his side bounce back from their defeat against Maidstone.
“That’s five wins from six now – it was pleasing today after last week where we were a bit lacklustre,” said Askey.
“It was a good team effort today, but obviously Scott has made the difference.” The game came to life on 39 minutes as Macc’s Danny Whitehead forced United keeper Vincent Dorel into producing a save with his feet. On the stroke of half-time, Dorel was called upon to produce a stunning one-handed save to deny Ryan Lloyd. The Gulls started the second half in determined fashion as new loan signing Rhys Murphy connected with a corner from Luke Young – only to see his effort palmed away by Shwan Jalal. But Macclesfield edged ahead as Wilson got the better of the defence to slot past Dorel. United were denied an equaliser in the 63rd minute when Jamie Reid had a low effort turned behind by Jalal. From the resulting corner substitute Josh McQuoid had a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area deflected wide. Macclesfield came close to adding a second when Dorel palmed a long range effort from Elliot Durrell over the bar.